On Friday, Jenny Grondahl flew from Phoenix to San Diego, carrying a souvenir: a cardboard. It read “Arizonenses Con Biden” with a cactus and was made by an artist named Javier Torres.
When she got to the gate, Grondahl said, a Southwest Airlines employee told her, “Many customers are offended by your sign.” The agent asked her to either cover it with white paper and tape or to fold it to put underneath her seat.
“I’m looking around at the gate, and I’m thinking, how many of you was it – 20 out of 110 people? And how offended were you? What did you say?” she told The Washington Post several days after the incident. “How could people have such a visceral reaction to seeing the name of our president on a sign?”
Southwest would not comment directly on the situation, but the airline denied it would censor political expression.
Nobody was offended and Southwest did censor political expression. There was no profanity in what she said, in fact we did a show focusing on a woman that got to keep her anti Biden signs in her front yard that did have profanity as it was a freedom of speech issue.
Is the front yard the same as a plane? You could say in a plane it could be a safety issue, but how is a sign that is not affecting passenger safety an issue?
Are there rules that South West has about brining items aboard their planes? Here they are below
Southwest Airlines Personal Item Size & Fees
Personal-type items include purses, briefcases, cameras, food containers, or laptops (case included). Your personal item must be stored under the seat in front of you, fitting within 18.5 x 8.5 x 13.5-inch dimensions.
Prohibited Items for Carry-On
There are certain items that are considered dangerous and classified as a hazardous material. Dangerous goods are prohibited from both your carry-on and checked bag on all flights. These rules are not specific to any airline and are mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration.
I do not see any rules against signs and it is not considered a hazardous material by the FAA.
What South West is worried about as well as all airlines are is the lack of civility of the flying public in the past years and they felt they were trying to avoid a possible issue.
I think people should be working on the civility issues in this country before free speech issues.
What South west should be working on is not charging me twenty bucks for a snack box that I know is no more than five.
We discuss this live on Davin’s Den this Tuesday August 10th 6:30 pm est. go to davincomedy.com click live broadcast and you are in. see us live as well on the Davin’s Den Facebook page.